Paramount Pictures and Marvel have released today an updated plot synopsis for Thor. The official release is as follows…

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, ‘Thor‘, which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war.

Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love.

It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Due for a May 2011 release, Thor promises a story full of action. With a cast that, along with those mentioned above, includes Rene Russo, Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgard, as well as being directed by theater stalwart Kenneth Branagh, the final result should be immense.

What are your reactions to the plot of Thor?

If you’re one of the many who fell in love with monster classics like The Wolf Man, Dracula, The Bride of Frankenstein and even The Creature from the Black Lagoon, then you’ll be less than happy to know that this revamp of the horror tale is somewhat of an underwhelming experience. There’s greatness here, but it never comes together to make for a particularly good film but simply a watchable one.

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Thanks to a tweet by the official Universal Pictures twitter it’s confirmed that the upcoming horror remake The Wolfman, starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt, has been rated R.

It reads: “... this just in: THE WOLFMAN has been rated ‘R’ for bloody horror, violence and gore. Get ready: February 12, 2010“

This announcement comes after much debate over the film’s rating, along with many other things, most commonly the string of push backs the film’s release date has gotten and the recent hiring of industry editors Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now) and Mark Goldblatt (True Lies) to recut the film.

And while no one is saying the film is automatically going to be good because it is R, the fact that the studio has faith in a harder version of the film suggests something worth taking a risk on. Or perhaps they hope to milk the gore audience for all their worth? The Wolfman opens  February 12th, 2010.

What do you think about The Wolfman getting an R rating?

In celebration of Empire magazine’s 20th anniversary they have done a photoshoot in which some world famous actors reprise their most iconic roles. Check out a few of my favorites below and the rest over at Empire, can you name all the films? Read the full story

Production Weekly has confirmed that Kenneth Branagh’s Thor will start filming in “Los Angeles mid-January, then move to Santa Fe, New Mexico from March till late-April.” You may be asking, what does this news mean to us? Well, we could very well start to see a bit of the production design, character costumes, or other things from the set. /Film highlights the cast below. Read the full story

Another derivation of legendary author Ernest Hemingway’s illustrious life will receive big screen treatment with the help of a familial descendant. Andy Garcia teamed up with Hemingway’s granddaughter Hilary Hemingway to write a script for the drama, Hemingway and Fuentes. Garcia will also direct. The film depicts the 20 years that the author and his best pal Gregorio Fuentes spent fishing in Cuba. Hemingway’s experiences significantly influenced his subsequent 1952 novella, The Old Man and the Sea.

Sir Anthony Hopkins is an inspired choice for the part of Hemingway, while Annette Bening will play his third wife Mary Welsh Hemingway and Garcia will play Fuentes, Michael Fleming of Variety reports. Read the full story

Variety reports Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto, along with Naomi Watts (The International)  join Anthony Hopkins and Josh Brolin in Woody Allen’s yet-to-be titled feature. The film is expected to shoot in London this summer.

It’s great to see the ‘Slumdog’ stars get work after their huge Oscar sweep. As previously reported, Dev Patel will join the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Do you think it’s a good choice for Pinto to join a Woody Allen film? Patel in a Shyamalan film?

Variety reports Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins have signed on for a Woody Allen which will shoot in London this summer. They are part of a larger ensemble cast, but as usuall, other actors are not being revealed now.

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By Dan Mecca

I don’t know where this guy came from, but he is one of the best actors around right now, and if you can’t admit that than you are lying to yourself. It all started, in hindsight, with Wimbledon, a sassy little rom-com starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany. And who was Bettany’s younger brother? You guessed it! McAvoy was also the funniest part of the movie, providing laughs where there should not have been any, and playing off Bettany’s awkward charm with…more awkward charm.

And that’s what he’s got: charm. The guy’s a natural, most likely unaware of the depths of his facial expressions and weight of his words. As Carl Colt in Wimbledon, McAvoy played an endearing character, constantly betting (literally) against his brother (Bettany) to lose but rooting for him to win…no matter what the cost.

These terms of endearment would only expand with his next breakout role, that of Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Playing a faun, McAvoy served, once again, as the comic relief in a children’s movie that took itself far too seriously.

And, once again, his performance felt less like acting and more like being, as if McAvoy was always a faun, who just happened to be on set that day, armed with a handful of nice one-liners. Every scene he is in he steals from those wooden kid actors, making every viewer wish he would take their place.

All of this, however, is foreplay. Where McAvoy really broke out was in The Last King of Scotland, playing Dr. Nicholas Garrigan. As the young naive doctor, McAvoy found a dramatic voice not present in his earlier roles. Unfortunately, he was in a film geared not towards his performance, but that of Forest Whittaker and his calculated imitation of Idi Amin. Reminescent of Anthony Hopkins overshadowing Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs or Marlon Brando overshadowing Al Pacino in The Godfather, Whittaker distracts viewers from McAvoy, who carries the film on his shoulders throughout, allowing Whittaker to overact his way to a Best Actor Oscar. I only hope Forest thanked McAvoy for the assist.

But young James’ time will surely come. He anchored Atonement and made the intelligent romance Starter for 10 delightful, with considerable help from Rebecca Hall, another up-and-comer with ridculously natural acting chops. Hell, he even made it through Wanted without laughing, which is more than you can say for Morgan Freeman, who was clearly laughing all the way to the bank in that piece of shit. McAvoy even made waves in the 2003 BBC series State of Play, which has since been adapted into an American feature film starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. And while the film sports a nice poster and trailer for its April 17th release, it has a huge problem: no James McAvoy.

McAvoy’s next film is Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station, a film based on Russian author Leo Tolstoy (the guy who wrote War and Peace). McAvoy is not Tolstoy and it looks like he is not the lead, which is refreshing in a way. Maybe he picked the film because he honestly liked the screenplay. The word on the street is that the film, as a matter of fact, is 2010 Oscar material. It appears McAvoy makes any movie he’s in better for it (see both Penelope and Becoming Jane), so I’m willing to bet we see McAvoy at the Academy Awards next year, if not nominated most certainly deserving.

Do you enjoy McAvoy’s performances? Do you see him growing as an actor?

Check out our other spotlights in our Articles section.